Russian Federative Socialist Republic
The Russian Federative Socialist Republic (Russian: Российская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, tr. Rossiyskaya Federativnaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), commonly referred to as Russia, is a socialist state on the Eurasian continent, governed as a single-party state by the Communist Party of Russia with Moscow as its capital. It is a union of 84 federal subjects, but its government and economy is highly centralized. Soviet Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Soviet Russia is also the world's ninth most populous nation with 143 million people as of 2012. Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. The nation's history began with that of the East Slavs, who emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century. In 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus' ultimately disintegrated into a number of smaller states; most of the Rus' lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion and became tributaries of the nomadic Golden Horde. The Grand Duchy of Moscow gradually reunified the surrounding Russian principalities, achieved independence from the Golden Horde, and came to dominate the cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus'. By the 18th century, the nation had greatly expanded through conquest, annexation, and exploration to become the Russian Empire, which was the third largest empire in history, stretching from Poland in Europe to Alaska in North America. Following the Russian Revolution, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic became the largest and leading constituent of the Soviet Union, the world's first constitutionally socialist state and a recognized superpower, which played a decisive role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the world's first spacecraft, and the first astronaut. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia became its heir on the international scene and as leader of the socialist bloc. Since took power in 1992, the new Communist government was characterized by maintaining a mix of hard line on the political and flexibility in the economic and social matters and an approach to the Russian Orthodox Church. The new Russian model has been used as an example for many former communist countries that have been able to survive and form a new socialist bloc around Russia. At present, Russia is a world power that maintains diplomatic and economic ties with the majority of the nations of the world and that seeks peaceful coexistence with its neighbors. From a more practical point of view, Russia has abandoned the Soviet idea of extending the communist model and advocates an understanding between different models. However, it is firm in the defense of its interests and its position in the world opposing the expansionist and imperialist policies of some member countries of CAS History Pre-Soviet Union Soviet Union Soviet Union Collapse In 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev took power in the USSR, nothing presaged the meltdown that would happen a few years later, although there were worrying signs especially in the economic field. Low productivity, corruption, outdated industrial equipment and falling oil prices between 1985 and 1986 had put the USSR on the verge of bankruptcy. Gorbachev undertook a series of economic reforms and policies intended to improve the economy and bring more transparency to the regime. Economic reforms failed and transparency policies helped the population to know the illness of the USSR causing a feeling of general discontent. The Afghanistan War and mismanagement of the Chernobyl disaster raised the discontent of the population. Nevertheless, Gorbachev continued his reform agenda that was becoming increasingly unmanageable and in early 1989 had placed the USSR in the way of its disappearance. In early 1988 the discontent began to be capitalized by nationalist groups in outlying republics leading to massive peaceful protests in the Baltic republics (Latvia and Estonia). Poland-Lithuania and violent ones throughout the Caucasus. While all this happened, demoralisation became increasingly prevalent among members of the army, and while the more orthodox sectors of the party began to talk openly about the possibility of dismissing Gorbachev, nobody dared to take the plunge. In the last months of 1988, Latvia and Estonia republics already enjoyed de facto independence as the local Communist parties assumed postulates of the emerging nationalist groups. Flags, anthems and, symbols predating the Soviet Union were returned to legitimacy, and everything necessary for individual declarations of independence was prepared. While this occurred in Latvia and Estonia, Caucasus disorders and ethnic strife spread like wildfire throughout several republics and threatened conflict between the Socialist Republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Protests also raged in Central Asia, especially in the Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan. Dissent grew equally inside the Russian Socialist Republic, especially among the outlying Russian republics of the Caucasus. While this happened, a group of party members led by Boris Yeltsin began to propose that Russia should abandon the USSR and its communist principles. As the USSR disintegrated, the communist regimes of Eastern Europe also suffered the effects of discontentment with the system. In the absence of Gorbachev's leadership, who had promoted a doctrine of non-intervention in the internal politics of the countries of the Communist bloc, protests encouraged by Western countries forced local communist governments to promote some reforms. This reform wave in the first half of 1989, instead of calming the protests, only made them more intense. By the summer of 1989, the government of Czechoslovakia (with daily street protests despite of concessions) were on the verge of collapse, and the situation in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary was not much better, threatening to spread to the GDR, where the SED government still retained control of the situation. In late July 1989, the situation was unsustainable in the entirety of the Soviet bloc and lead to the collapse of the USSR and the other communist governments in the Eastern bloc. In this context, and during the summer vacation in Crimea, a group of senior Army Officers and a group of member of the Communist Party, not taking direct part in the government, met secretly to discuss the situation and consider alternatives to try to avoid the collapse. What happened in those meetings caused the emergence of the so-called "Group of Crimea" that would later rise to control the Russian Socialist Republic. On 23 August 1989, the GDR government formally requested aid from General Boris Smetkov, head of Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, to control the internal situation and help to avoid the collapse of GDR in a political maneuver previously agreed between Smetkov and GDR leaders. This petition, as Smetkov had planned, caught the authorities of the Soviet Union off guard. Gorbachev didn't want to intervene, but he could not deny a request for direct support. After several days without any response from Moscow, Smetkov decided to act on his own, mobilizing his troops and becoming the de facto leader of the anti-reform movement. Smetkov was officially relieved and recalled to Moscow, but on September 3, 1989, he declared himself in contempt of Soviet command and decided not to obey their orders, saying that the government had been plunged into chaos. Martial law was declared in the GDR and order was restored in a few days. In mid-November 1989 Smetkov figure emerged for conservatives as the only way to keep order in the USSR. Despite Gorbachev's government attempts to arrest and try him in Moscow, it seemed impossible to capture him without forcing a large-scale military action, something that Gorbachev did not plan for. Meanwhile, Smetkov was winning sympathies, not only in the army and the Communist Party, but also in broad sectors of the population that began to be fed up with the daily consequences of protests and the disastrous results of Gorbachev's policies. In early 1990, Latvia, Estonia and other governments in the Caucasus began to declare independence from the USSR. As initially Gorbachev responded timidly by sending troops to Estonia, he was soon overtaken by events to the point that in May 1990, Boris Yeltsin took control of the Russian SFSR and proclaimed its sovereignty as the Russian Federation, signing the death warrant of the USSR. New Soviet Russia At that time the members of the Group of Crimea headed by Smetkov were aware that the USSR was dead and openly assumed the "amputation" of parts to save the core. Situation in the Baltic republics (clearly supported by the West) and the Caucasus was unrecoverable so they decided to focus their actions on the Russian SFSR to prevent its collapse along with the USSR. So, in early June 1990, General Boris Smetkov traveled to Odessa to get directly the control of the 98th Guards Airborne Division that was moved to the outskirts of Moscow in the following days. Most of the troops stationed in Moscow refused to engage combats and after a skirmish with units loyal to the government, the General Smetkov took control of the capital reaching the doors of the Kremlin on June 20, 1990. Martial law was declared and with the capital under military control Boris Yeltsin was arrested with most of his colleagues and members of the government of Russia and the USSR. Locked in the Kremlin, Gorbachev managed to flee to the United States helped by the CIA, wich was exploited by Smetkov to show the people that Gorbachev had worked for the Americans since the first day with the goal of destroying the USSR. On August 1, 1990 Smetkov was self-proclaimed President of the Russian SFSR, the Supreme Soviet was dissolved and the Communist Party put under the military rule. This served as proof that he had no intention of trying to save the USSR whose presidency remained vacant. In his first speech after his self-proclamation Smetkov insisted that his intention was to restore peace and welfare for the citizens of the RSFSR and encouraged the leaders of other republics of the USSR to do the same. He threatened Western leaders to unleash the entire Soviet nuclear power if they tried to interfere in the process. Channels of dialogue were established with the republics of Poland-Lithuania , Latvia , Estonia , Belarus , Moldova and Ukraine in Europe , as well as other republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia. In a controlled way, the government and some troops were transferred to the new nations and gradually all the republics that were part of the USSR declared its independence, a process that ended with the declaration of independence of Russian SFSR on October 9, 1990. The same day, the USSR was dissolved becoming the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic its heir on the international scene and trustee of the nuclear arsenal and strategic forces of the former USSR. Consolidation and peripheral wars: 1991-1997 After the proclamation of independence, General Smetkov began the task of shoring up the RSFSR based on three principles: Wellness recovery, loyalty to socialism and economic reform. To get it , he did not hesitate to declare martial law in the republic that was put under military discipline until order was restored and the supervisory bodies of the army, the administration and the Party were properly released. One of the first reforms was the Cooperatives Act in 1991 , which allowed the cooperative members to sell in local markets some of its products without the need to deliver them to the government for distribution. This helped largely to alleviate shortages of staples that the population of the republic was beginning to suffer. In addition , the new government was blunt in his fight against corruption between the government punishing with death penalty the corrupt officials on charges of treason. It is estimated that the success in the fight against corruption led to an increase in GDP of 15% in just two years . These measures helped to regain part of the welfare lost in the Gorbachev years and served to increase the population support despite of being subject to military discipline. During the following years until 1996, investments were conducted to update some of the ossified Soviet factories and modernize agricultural machinery in the way that the delicate state accounts allowed the investments. However, the greatest achievements of the period occurred in the optimization of existing resources, the development of new methods of production and domestic trade which resulted in improving productivity and significant savings. Private property was legalized and farms and small non-strategic industries began to be privately managed by cooperatives or individuals. On the international scene, the new government adopted initially the traditional policies of the Soviet Union. Relations with the rest of the former Soviet republics remained mainly cordial and various cooperation and economic development agreements were established.. In 1992 civil war started in Transcaucasian Confederation, threatening to spread rapidly throughout the Caucasus including the southern territories of the Russian SFSR. The ethnic and religious conflict had already spread to the Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia within months of its inception. In this situation, Smetkov ordered his friend Colonel General Genady Konev to take charge of an army to stabilize the Russan Caucasus region, resulting in the Caucasus Campaing that lasted intermittently until 1996. In 1994 Russia and Transcaucasia reached an agreement of mutual recognition and started cooperate in economic and military matters. Meanwhile, in the territories of the Far East discontent and disaffection had grown mainly in the cities . This was used by Japan that craved the resources of those territories and saw an opportunity to support the protests . In a few months the guerrillas began to proliferate in the region and in late 1993 they controlled some major cities. At first, Smetkov, not wanting another Caucasus in the east, valued the option to allow the creation of a new state in the east territories. This option disappeared because it was found that the guerrillas were armed and financed from Japan. In spring 1994, the governments sent troops to the region starting what would be called the Campaign of the East. After secretly meeting with the leaders of China and North Korea, General Smetkov got their support and the three leaders issued a joint statement warning that if Japan continued to support the rebels this would be considered an act of war. Faced with the threat of a large-scale conflict, Japan pledged to stop supporting the rebels. A few months later in a military action supported by troops from China and North Korea, the government regained control of cities held by guerrillas and their leaders were executed. In November 1995, the governments of Russia and Japan signed a non-aggression agreement with a series of economic agreements that allowed an exchange of raw materials and technology while similar agreements were reached with Baltic Federation, Kalmar Union and France. Consolidation and reform of State: 1997-1999 On February 4, 1997, in a televised speech to the nation, General Boris Smetkov announced that the period of martial law would end on March 1. From that moment the power would gradually return to the Communist Party. Elections to the Supreme Soviet were held for autumn and General Secretary of the Communist Party, Vasily Andreyev, became head of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet. January 1, 1998, General Boris Smetkov renounced all his powers and went to the military reservation. From that moment, Vasily Andreyev would became the leader of the Soviet Russia. Smetkov passed away eleven months later victim of a lung cancer. During this period, the Supreme Soviet was responsible for drafting a new constitution that would be adopted on September 3, 1999. With the new constitution the name of the nation was changed to Russian Federative Socialist Republic abandoning the "Soviet" name as a clear sign of breaking with the past. Some of the most important reforms in the economy during this period were: *Restructuring of key economic sectors (energy, defense, hi-tech, etc.) to create large industrial groups controlled by the state able to compete in the international markets. *Gradual privatization of non-strategic industries giving priority to the collective property of workers and the industrial project more than the economic offer. *Openness to foreign investment in non-strategic sectors, especially companies from countries with cooperation agreements. A superpower again:1999-2009 Once the new Constitution was passed, the new Politburo leaded by Andreyev focused its efforts on two main fronts: Reforms to strengthen the economy and modernizing the armed forces. The first Four-Year Plan approved under the direction of Andreyev made a number of significant changes in the planning of the economy. The Plan opted for modernization in communication technologies and the standardization of Comnet and Cybercom as the most effective mean for both, real-time changes in the needs of the state as well as the evolution in the production centers. With these measures and the reduction of the five-year plans to four-year plans, the Politburo intended to avoid one of the traditional problems of the planned economy of the USSR allowing to quickly respond to the real state needs. Moreover, liberalizing measures were adopted in agriculture to enhance productivity of small collective farms and get a better supply local markets. Furthermore, on large state farms and in factories, improved and new production methods were introduced aimed at improving productivity and quality. For the first time in the history of socialist economies, the concept of "competition" was introduced between the various state factories so that workers in more efficient factories would be rewarded. In successive Plans, more and deeper reforms were happening so that at the end of the 2005-2008 plan, Russian economy was one of the world's most dynamic and driven not only by the traditional sectors but also for new technologies and services sectors. At the end of this period the Russian economy was fairly deregulated, although the state retained key powers in planning, strategic sectors and industrial policy. Private property had spread to the majority of the sectors and foreign investment had become commonplace. During the years 1999-2009, the armed forces underwent a major renovation that involved a reduction in the number of troops and a full refurbishment and adaptation of equipment. Numerous armament programs were approved and collaboration with other allied countries for the development of new strategies for joint defense was strengthened. The modernization of the armed forces covered all branches but was especially significant in the navy who in recent years increased its potential very significantly. 21st Century Soviet Russia At present Russia has become a global power at political, economic, diplomatic and military level. He leads the group of emerging nations that pose an alternative to the Western model and has become a world-class actor capable of influencing politics and enonomy around the world. Russia exercises active leadership in the fields of oil and gas production, atomic energy and civil and military technologies. It participates actively in numerous forums and organizations of social and economic cooperation and is the first producer and exporter of military equipment in the world. Since 2010, the economic model has been consolidated with the latest reforms to deregulate the functioning of the economy, while maintaining state supervision and guidance through Cybercom. State enterprises, grouped into corporations, are only part of the economy and will focus on strategic sectors or exports, while the rest of industrial and agricultural production is in private hands. In general, the Russian economy works internally with market rules, although the possible imbalances are corrected with Cybercom. Foreign investment has been fundamental to achieve the technological leap and throughout these years numerous companies have opened subsidiaries on Russian soil. This foreign investment has come mainly from countries with economic agreements, but also from other countries especially in regard to consumer goods. Russian state investment abroad has grown exponentially in this period to the point that Russia is the main foreign investor in many countries and Russian companies operate normally throughout the world. In the political sphere, Russia has tried to strengthen ties with its neighbors by increasing economic and military ties, but also by actively participating in international organizations. Unlike the Soviet Union, the current Russian model is copied by other countries without being imposed. This has allowed Russia to lead the group of emerging nations that want to occupy their space in the world without becoming paradises for speculation and capitalist corporations. On the other hand, the recent programs of armament and military technology have returned to Russia the military leadership lost in the last years of the USSR, but without making the economy suffer for it and making the military industry one of the main exporters from the country. The Russian military doctrine is no longer based on quantity, but on a just mix of quantity and quality. Geography Soviet Russia is the largest country in the world; its total area is 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi). There are 23 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Soviet Russia, 40 UNESCO biosphere reserves, 41 national parks and 101 nature reserves. It lies between latitudes 41° and 82° N, and longitudes 19° E and 169° W. Soviet Russia has a wide natural resource base, including major deposits of timber, petroleum, natural gas, coal, ores and other mineral resources. Area and boundaries Area: *Total: 17,075,200 km² *Land: 16,995,800 km² *Water: 79,400 km² Land boundaries: *Total: 19,917 km Border countries: *Soviet Russia excluding Kaliningrad Oblast: **Azerbaijan; 284 km; **Belarus: 959 km; **China: (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south): 40 km; **Baltic Republic: 511 km; **Finland: 1,313 km; **Georgia: 723 km; **Kazakhstan: 6,846 km; **Mongolia: 3,441 km; **North Korea: 19 km; **Norway: 167 km; **Ukraine: 1,576 km *Kaliningrad Oblast: **Baltic Republic: 227 km; **Poland: 206 km Coastline: 37,653 km Maritime claims: *Soviet Russian continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation *Exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi (370.4 km; 230.2 mi) *Territorial sea: 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) Elevation extremes: *Lowest point: Caspian Sea: −28 m *Highest point: Mount Elbrus: 5,642 m Topography The two widest separated points in Soviet Russia are about 8,000 km (4,971 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: the boundary with Poland on a 60 km (37 mi) long Vistula Spit separating the Gdańsk Bay from the Vistula Lagoon; and the farthest southeast of the Kuril Islands. The points which are furthest separated in longitude are 6,600 km (4,101 mi) apart along a geodesic line. These points are: in the west, the same spit; in the east, the Big Diomede Island. Soviet Russia spans 9 time zones. Most of Soviet Russia consists of vast stretches of plains that are predominantly steppe to the south and heavily forested to the north, with tundra along the northern coast. Soviet Russia possesses 10% of the world's arable land. Mountain ranges are found along the southern borders, such as the Caucasus (containing Mount Elbrus, which at 5,642 m (18,510 ft) is the highest point in both Soviet Russia and Europe) and the Altai (containing Mount Belukha, which at the 4,506 m (14,783 ft) is the highest point of Siberia outside of the Soviet Russian Far East); and in the eastern parts, such as the Verkhoyansk Range or the volcanoes of Kamchatka Peninsula (containing Klyuchevskaya Sopka, which at the 4,750 m (15,584 ft) is the highest active volcano in Eurasia as well as the highest point of Asian Soviet Russia). The Ural Mountains, rich in mineral resources, form a north-south range that divides Europe and Asia. Soviet Russia has an extensive coastline of over 37,000 km (22,991 mi) along the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, as well as along the Baltic Sea, Sea of Azov, Black Sea and Caspian Sea. The Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea, Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, and the Sea of Japan are linked to Soviet Russia via the Arctic and Pacific. Soviet Russia's major islands and archipelagos include Novaya Zemlya, the Franz Josef Land, the Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin. The Diomede Islands (one controlled by Soviet Russia, the other by the U.S.) are just 3 km (1.9 mi) apart, and Kunashir Island is about 20 km (12.4 mi) from Hokkaido, Japan. Soviet Russia has thousands of rivers and inland bodies of water, providing it with one of the world's largest surface water resources. Its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's liquid fresh water. The largest and most prominent of Russia's bodies of fresh water is Lake Baikal, the world's deepest, purest, oldest and most capacious fresh water lake. Baikal alone contains over one-fifth of the world's fresh surface water. Other major lakes include Ladoga and Onega, two of the largest lakes in Europe. Soviet Russia is second only to Brazil in volume of the total renewable water resources. Of the country's 100,000 rivers, the Volga is the most famous, not only because it is the longest river in Europe, but also because of its major role in Russian history. The Siberian rivers Ob, Yenisey, Lena and Amur are among the longest rivers in the world. Climate The enormous size of Soviet Russia and the remoteness of many areas from the sea result in the dominance of the humid continental climate, which is prevalent in all parts of the country except for the tundra and the extreme southeast. Mountains in the south obstruct the flow of warm air masses from the Indian Ocean, while the plain of the west and north makes the country open to Arctic and Atlantic influences. Most of Northern European Russia and Siberia has a subarctic climate, with extremely severe winters in the inner regions of Northeast Siberia (mostly the Sakha Republic, where the Northern Pole of Cold is located with the record low temperature of −71.2 °C or −96.2 °F), and more moderate elsewhere. The strip of land along the shore of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Russian Arctic islands, have a polar climate. The coastal part of Krasnodar Krai on the Black Sea, most notably in Sochi, possesses a humid subtropical climate with mild and wet winters. Winter is dry compared to summer in many regions of East Siberia and the Far East, while other parts of the country experience more even precipitation across seasons. Winter precipitation in most parts of the country usually falls as snow. The region along the Lower Volga and Caspian Sea coast, as well as some areas of southernmost Siberia, possesses a semi-arid climate. Throughout much of the territory there are only two distinct seasons—winter and summer—as spring and autumn are usually brief periods of change between extremely low temperatures and extremely high. The coldest month is January (February on the coastline), the warmest usually is July. Great ranges of temperature are typical. In winter, temperatures get colder both from south to north and from west to east. Summers can be quite hot, even in Siberia. The continental interiors are the driest areas. Biodiversity From north to south the East European Plain, also known as Russian Plain, is clad sequentially in Arctic tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and broad-leaf forests, grassland (steppe), and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea), as the changes in vegetation reflect the changes in climate. Siberia supports a similar sequence but is largely taiga. Soviet Russia has the world's largest forest reserves, known as "the lungs of Europe", second only to the Amazon Rainforest in the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs. There are 266 mammal species and 780 bird species in Soviet Russia. A total of 415 animal species have been included in the Red Data Book of the Soviet Russia as of 1997 and are now protected. Politics Main article: Politics of Soviet Russia There are three power hierarchies in the Soviet Russia: the legislative branch represented by the Supreme Soviet of Soviet Russia, the government represented by the Council of Ministers, and the Communist Party of Soviet Russia(CPSR), the only legal party and the ultimate policymaker in the state. Communist Party Main article: Communist Party of Soviet Russia At the top of the Communist Party is the Central Committee, elected at Party Congresses and Conferences. The Central Committee in turn voted for a Politburo, Secretariat and the General Secretary, who is the "de facto" highest office in the RSFSR. The Politburo as a collective body and the General Secretary, who always is one of the Politburo members, are who effectively led the party and the country. They are not controlled by the general party membership, as the key principle of the party organization is democratic centralism, demanding strict subordination to higher bodies and elections went uncontested, endorsing the candidates proposed from above. The Communist Party maintain its dominance over the state largely through its control over the system of appointments. All senior government officials and most deputies of the Supreme Soviet are members of the CPSR. The institutions at lower levels are overseen and at times supplanted by primary party organizations. In practice, however, the degree of control the party is able to exercise over the state bureaucracy is not total, with the bureaucracy pursuing different interests that are at times in conflict with the party. Nor is the party itself monolithic from top to bottom, although factions are officially banned. Government Main article: Government of Soviet Russia The Supreme Soviet of Soviet Russia is nominally the highest state body. The powers and functions of the Supreme Soviet include the creation of new state commissions and committees, the approval of the Four-Years Plans and the Soviet Russia Budget. The Supreme Soviet elects a Presidium to wield its power between plenary sessions, ordinarily held twice a year, and appoint the Supreme Court, the Procurator General and the Council of Ministers, headed by the Premier and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society. State and party structures of the constituent federal bodies largely emulate the structure of the central institutions. Local authorities are organized likewise into party committees, local Soviets and executive committees. While the state system is nominally federal, the party is unitary. Judicial system Main articles: Law of Soviet Russia The judiciary is not independent of the other branches of government. The Supreme Court supervise the lower courts (People's Courts) and apply the law as established by the Constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. Soviet Russia use the inquisitorial system of Roman law, where the judge, procurator, and defense attorney collaborate to establish the truth. Foreign relations and military Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Soviet Russia See: *Ministry of Foreign Affairs *Soviet Russia Diplomatic Status *COMECON *Cominform *Warsaw Pact Following stabilization in the second half of the 90s, as heir of the USSR, Soviet Russia has maintained and strengthened its role as a world superpower and leader of communist nations. This leadership is based on its military, scientific and economic power and in their ability to politically influence nations around the world. Soviet Russia is leader of the COMECON and the Warsaw Pact and a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN, with the right to veto. At present, Soviet Russia maintains diplomatic relations with almost all the nations of the world. Military Main article: Soviet Russian Armed Forces After the last reorganization of the armed forces during the period 2001-2004, Soviet Russian military is divided into the Ground Forces, Navy, and Air Force. There are also three independent arms of service: Strategic Rocket Troops, Air and Space Defense Troops, and the Airborne Troops. In 2012, the military had 0.87 million personnel on active duty. It is mandatory for all male citizens aged 18–27 to be drafted for a period of service in Armed Forces. Periods can vary according with the skills of the soldier and the requirements of the position. Soviet Russia has the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. It has the largest fleet of ballistic missile submarines and is one the only countries with a modern strategic bomber force. The country has a large and fully indigenous arms industry, producing most of its own military equipment with only few types of weapons imported. Soviet Russia is the world's top supplier of arms, a spot it has held since 2001, accounting for around 30% of worldwide weapons sales and exporting weapons to about 80 countries. Economy ''Main article: Economy of Soviet Russia See also: *Ministry of Finance *Soviet Russia Budget *Gosbank *State Planning Committee *Four-Years Plan During the first years after the collapse of USSR, the economy of the Soviet Russia was based mostly on a system of state ownership of the means of production, collective farming, industrial manufacturing, centralized administrative planning, state control of investment and public ownership of industrial assets. From 1999 measures of economic liberalization were implemented in some sectors to move the economy towards a market-oriented socialist economy where the state retains a key role in the economy but social ownership and private investment are allowed and/or encouraged in some sectors. To know the complex demands of the modern economy and to avoid the inflexible administration that overwhelmed and constrained traditionally planned economies, the government has developed complex systems of automation of information and decision-making. These planning methods based on real-time collection of data allows for effective networking between centers of consumption, planning and production. The development of modern computing software and algorithms operating on the communication network Comnet has allowed the Soviet Russian economy to achieve high degrees of effectiveness, productivity and quality. The largest sector of the economy is services at 63.9%, followed by manufacturing and refining at 31.4% and agriculture at 4.7%. The country has an abundance of natural resources, including timber, precious metals, and particularly fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) that can be developed without the constraint of OPEC production quotas and other rules (Soviet Russia is not an OPEC member). In recent years, Soviet Russia's oil and gas production and pipeline projects have been not only a primary source of Soviet Russia's economic growth but also a geostrategic lever in the country's relationship with Europe and Asia. With respect to foreign trade, after the oil industry the key economic sector is manufacturing. The largest industries are machinery and other engineered metal products, military industry, forest industry, chemicals and more recently electronics and software. During the period 1999-2008 the average growth of the Soviet Russian economy was 4.7%. In 2099 there was a slowdown in this trend with growth below 1% during 2009, 2010 and 2011. In 2012, growth reached 2% which was passed in 2013 with 2.7% and was maintained over 3% during 2014 and 2015. Forecasts indicate stable growth above 3% for the coming years. Demographics Culture See also Category:Altverse Category:Countries Category:Soviet Russia Category:Nations Category:Country